This Taiwan travel video lets you meet Sydney Tooley who produced the PureFlix movie, Sun Moon. The movie is a retelling of your life experiences of traveling to and doing ministry work in Taiwan. Read the full feature story, Pure Flix Sun Moon Takes You To Taiwan in the Summer 2023 issue of map - A Travel Lifestyle Magazine.
SUMMARY
Sydney Tooley, writer and director of the Pure Flix exclusive film Sun Moon, discusses the personal journey that inspired the movie. After repeatedly trying to quit filmmaking to pursue missionary work, she moved to Taiwan to teach and found herself drawn back to film through the experience. Despite early setbacks including COVID shutting down a low-budget version of the project, the screenplay she wrote as a graduate thesis ultimately caught the attention of Sony, making the film a reality.
A central theme of both the movie and Sydney's real-life experience is the culture shock of immersing oneself in a radically different environment. She describes Taiwan's language, food, and Eastern thought patterns as deeply foreign at first, but found that a genuine curiosity about the local culture helped break down barriers. She also discovered that American films and social media gave her unexpected common ground with her Taiwanese students, which she leveraged to teach English and build meaningful relationships.
Sydney reflects on the broader lesson of approaching missionary travel with humility and openness. Rather than leading with her own beliefs, she emphasizes listening first, earning trust, and inviting genuine dialogue about faith and culture. Having visited roughly 25 countries, she advocates for a style of travel focused on integrating with local communities — working with orphanages, participating in cultural projects, and seeking out authentic human connection — rather than tourist-driven experiences, finding that a mission-centered approach leaves her far more fulfilled than conventional vacationing.
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